By Mary Mostert, Analyst, Banner of Liberty (www.bannerofliberty.com)
August 22, 2001
September 11, 2001 - Editor's Note: In the wake of the airplane suicide attacks on the New York Trade Center and the Pentagon, I am re-posting the article below which was published August 22nd. At this point we don't know who exactly is responsible for the death and destruction at the Trade center. We do, however, know of the people who promised "fresh round of fury against economic globalization." A cooperative effort between anti-globalists and Osama Bin Laden perhaps?
Recently I made a comment in the presence of an ardent environmentalist that the escalating violence at world meetings, which began at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle in December 1999, could be traced largely to organizational efforts of environmentalist groups, many of them in the The International Forum on Globalization. (http://www.ifg.org/about.html.) This was hotly denied, with the environmentalist telling me, in effect, that I was stupid to think that there was any organizing behind the 100,000 people who converged on Genoa in July, intent on disrupting the G8 Summit.
Actually of course, the International Forum on Globalization, an umbrella organization of a couple of hundred groups headed by leaders of the Environmentalist movement, includes Ralph Nadar Green Party candidate for President, Carl Pope, of the Sierra Club, Jerry Brown of We the People, Randall Hayes of Rainforest Action Network, Brent Blackwelder, of Friends of the Earth-U.S. and many other environmentalists and others.
While the BBC had reported in late June that "Italian authorities have ordered 200 body bags as they step up preparations for a violent confrontation at next month's G8 summit in Genoa" and noted that "A room at the city's hospital will be set aside as a temporary mortuary" according to Italian news agency ANSA," the one death of a violent demonstrator was reported as a big surprise and somehow or other the fault of the Italian police. Nowhere have I found a report congratulating the Italian police for keeping the feared death rate of 200 people down to a mere one person in spite of the planned violence.
Prior to the Genoa G8 summit the German secret service warned that there was "an assassination plan by Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, aimed at US President George W Bush. Militant supporters of Bin Laden are said to planning a possible bomb attack." Russia's President Putin also was a target, according to reports published prior to the summit.
That being the case, why is it there is so much ignorance, if it is ignorance, of the true nature of the rapidly rising violence associated with world meetings? It's not hard to track down the source of the calls to gather at international meetings with the purpose of disrupting them. And, 100,000 people, out of the approximately 6 billion population of the earth, organized, financed and operating in unison to disrupt meetings can certainly make it seem as if there is worldwide opposition to whatever protesting opportunities that arise.
I bring this up because another massive protest is now being organized to disrupt the meeting planned in September of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Last year there were only about 5,000 protestors, rather than the 20,000 the organizers thought were coming, in Prague to disrupt the IMF meetings. However, that was enough that the Associated Press was able to report:
"a fresh round of fury against economic globalization," as "5,000 protesters marched on the IMF and World Bank summit Tuesday, throwing firebombs, sticks and rocks at police who responded with clubs, tear gas and water cannons."The enemies of capitalism didn't get the 20,000 activists they had hoped for but were still able to raise a ruckus that left at least 69 people injured and turned Prague into a smoky battle zone.
"Protesters threw Molotov cocktails and rocks they had made by breaking up a cobblestone sidewalk. Authorities pushed demonstrators back each time they approached the communist-era convention center where the titans of global capitalism had huddled to pon der economic issues.
"Hundreds of activists got so close, however, that officials temporarily stopped the International Monetary Fund and World Bank delegates and staff from leaving before evacuating them through a subway station closed to the public.
The skies over Prague filled with black smoke after some of the demonstrators built barricades in the streets and set them ablaze, also torching cars in what they billed as a sequel to riots that marred recent economic meetings in Seattle and Washington."
My environmentalist friend angrily and staunchly argued that these globalization protests were "spontaneous" and not planned by environmentalists. Yeah. People just "happen" to book flights to major cities around the world and just "happen" to have the ingredients with them to make Molotov cocktails to throw at the local police? I don't think so.
The fact is, as I tried in vain to tell the environmentalist, it takes a lot of planning, leadership and a lot of money to execute the kind of disruption that took place at the G-8 Summit. This phase of the "revolution" was begun, according to planners and participants, at the Seattle World Trade Organization when an estimated 40,000-50,000 people showed up for the "Millennium Round". According to organizers of the event, the goal of the planned operation was not communication, i.e. demonstrating. The goal was to "shut the WTO down."
Web reports abound with statements like: "Congratulations to everyone who made it to Seattle, and for all the folks back home who weren't able to attend but who helped make it possible for others to go. The spirit of revolution was ignited in Seattle on November 30, 1999 and it burns hot in the hearts of those who came together to shut the WTO down."
Washington's Gov. Gary Locke ordered the National Guard and state troopers to Seattle, to assist the city police and the costs of protecting the participants of the WT) was about ten times what had been budgeted.
Consistently, the media throughout the world, but especially the American media, reported this as "demonstrators protesting." While the organizers claim to be "non-violent" protestors, their actions and preparations for battle clearly show a very different agenda. As one of the publications of the left put it: "It's not every day that you get to see a revolution born. ... . Dispatch Four weaves together first-hand accounts, photographs, video stills, poetry and artwork to represent the revolutionary spirit that flooded downtown Seattle during N30."
In September 2001 the International Monetary Fund will meet and the stage is being set for a massive effort for what radicals call "structural adjustment" of monetary policies. The "structural adjustments" being demanded by hundreds of organizations, large and small, would cancel all debt to the World Bank and IMF, halt oil, gas and mining activities and the building of dams.
The US Network for Global Economic Justice claims the active participation of groups such as the AFL-CIO. In fact, the AFL-CIO is calling for unionists to "unite with a broad range of activists from around the world" to "come together in a week of action to reject the global economic system that values profits over people when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank hold their annual joint meetings in Washington, D.C., during the week of Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2001."
It also announces that AFL-CIO trade unionists will
"approach the November meeting of the World Trade Organization in Qatar, we also will be joining together with unions from around the world in global solidarity actions being planned by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). And, also in Washington, D.C., from Sept. 24-25, the National Council of Women's Organizations will hold its Women's Equality Summit, Congressional Action Day with a focus on Social Security privatization-another item on the World Bank's agenda."The fall meetings of the IMF and World Bank will be among the most significant gatherings of the proponents and decision makers of corporate-led globalization in 2001. The struggle against the IMF and World Bank is about much more than trade. It is the struggle to address the inequalities of the global economy through the institutions that perpetuate them."
The AFL-CIO supports "Global justice" which is defined in its three demands:
1. "Opposition to the granting by the U.S. Congress of "Fast Track" trade negotiating authority to President George W. Bush. Fast Track would bar Congress from more than a minimal review of trade agreements Bush negotiates, and would not require protections for workers' rights and the environment in the core provisions of the trade agreements-despite extensive protections for business interests."2. Support for the call to unconditionally cancel the debts owed by the poorest countries to the IMF and the World Bank, using the institutions' own resources
3. Opposition to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) agreement aimed at extending the terms of the disastrous North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) throughout the Western Hemisphere
A website called www.destroyimf.org calls for Revolution against global capitalism, and provides links to groups, including the AFL-CIO, who support their goals:
"The Washington DC Anti-Capitalist Convergence is a coalition of anti-capitalist activists organizing direct action and a week long convergence against the IMF and World Bank meetings being held in DC this fall. We are calling for people from all over the world to converge on Washington DC from September 24 - October 1. Please, try to be in town no later than September 26!"
What is occurring with little media review is the merging of radical sources around the world into a small, but dangerous, conglomerate of environmentalists, trade unionists, anarchists, disgruntled socialists and communists alarmed at the growing success of capitalism. The violence in Seattle was a surprise. Increasingly, good intelligence work, which probably depends heavily on website research, is tipping off the local police to expect assassination attempts and property damage at world meetings.
When you realize that we have about 58 members of the Democrat Socialist Progressive Caucus Members in the 107th Congress, you know we have not really solved the problem of worldwide socialism and communism. It's merely taken a different form. The technique seems to be to always talk about non-violent demonstrations, while preparing for violent actions and challenges to law an order with local legal authorities who can then be accused of beating innocent demonstrators.
Be prepared for a major confrontation in September in Washington with planned destruction of property. The coalition, which destroyimf.org self identifies as being composed of "anti-capitalists, anarchists, environmental militants and radicals, as well as members of the labor movement, students and the rest of civil society" are planning to "converge on Washington DC" during from September 28 - October 4. to protest, challenge, disrupt, and potentially crush the global Joint Annual General Meeting. The confrontation could end up being the largest and most militant anti-capitalist showdown Washington has ever seen. Already, hundreds of affinity groups are forming, plans of attack are being drawn up, buildings cased, and gas masks stockpiled."
Contrary to the party line of ardent environmentalists, this is not going to be a nice little home-grown, spontaneous communication session between those opposed to the IMF and those in support of the IMF, folks. Welcome to 21st century revolutionary tactics: Start a violent confrontation with the police and then loudly complain to a sympathetic media that you are a victim of police brutality for merely expressing your opinion.
To comment: mmostert@bannerofliberty.com